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River Mouth
| movement = | minerals_arcanus = None | minerals_myrror = None | change_terrain = No Effect | gaia's_blessing = No effect }} River Mouth is a type of Terrain in the world of Master of Magic. River Mouth tiles appear wherever a River connects to the Shore of an ocean or inland lake. Therefore, they will only be found along shorelines, and always have at least one River extending in the opposite direction, heading inland. River Mouth tiles have a mix of qualities similar to both River and Shore tiles. They are as fertile as Rivers, allowing nearby towns to flourish and grow rapidly. If a town is built directly on top of a River Mouth tile, it will also get a massive bonus to its output ( , as much as a River and a Shore tile combined). River Mouths are always devoid of Minerals and will never contain Encounter zones either. Furthermore, they may not be affected by any spell that alters the landscape, such as , or . River Mouths are difficult to cross for units, though Roads may be built over them at a fairly good speed, allowing faster movement. Despite being essentially a waterway though, River Mouth tiles may not be entered by units. River Mouth tiles should not be confused with River tiles. Although the relationship between these two types of Terrain is important, they each behave somewhat differently. Description All Rivers eventually flow out into large bodies of water. Most commonly, these are the Oceans or seas, but can also be inland lakes that drain autonomously by ground-filtration or evaporation. In both cases, that location is called the "mouth" of the river. A River Mouth is a prime location for settlement. For one, the river provides fresh water for animals, plantlife, and agricultural development. It also provides an easy mode of transportation inland, as boats can travel upstream to other locales along its path. Furthermore, the presence of a large body of water nearby allows ships to travel out towards other continents, establishing trade on an even greater scale. Geography River Mouth tiles are placed by the game in every location where a River meets a Shore, and will not be found anywhere else. This happens both on the shores of Oceans, as well as the shores of inland lakes. Because of this, River Mouth tiles never appear on their own. There is always a River pointing inland from this meeting place, and a Shore tile on the other side. Town Development River Mouth tiles can be even more desirable than the other parts of Rivers for the purposes of founding Settlements. They bestow a similar bonus to nearby towns' Maximum Population, so towns near River Mouth tiles will grow very rapidly and can often reach great sizes. Furthermore, building a Town directly on top of a River Mouth will net that town a very large bonus to its output, due to trade going both up the river and out to the nearby Ocean or lake. This bonus is even greater than that given by regular River tiles. Finally, since all River Mouth tiles are by definition placed adjacent to Shore tiles, a town built on a River Mouth always has access to the naval development branch, and if the founding Race allows, will be able to build a Shipwrights' Guild or Ship Yard; and possibly even a Maritime Guild or Merchants' Guild! Maximum Population : A River Mouth tile within the catchment area of a town will provide +2.0 to that town's Maximum Population. This is in contradiction with what the in-game Surveyor tool shows (which claims that the tile only provides when moused over). In this case, the Surveyor is incorrect, and the tile does give instead, which will, in contrast, be properly counted into the "City Resources" shown by the same tool. In other words, if a town were to be surrounded entirely by River Mouth tiles, its Maximum Population would be 42 (21 tiles * 2.0 = 42). Of course, that is not geographically possible, and building a city on these tiles will always include at least one Shore tile too (along with possibly some Ocean tiles, which, in turn, provide no benefit whatsoever). Maximum Population dictates the absolute maximum number of citizens a town can have. Once it reaches this many citizens, it will simply stop growing. However, the size of cities also has a technical limit of 25, which may come into play if the Maximum Population is otherwise higher than this (as it may very well be for settlements founded around River Mouths). Maximum Population also determines the town's rate of Population Growth: the larger the gap between its current- and Maximum Population, the faster the town grows. Furthermore, Maximum Population also determines how much can be produced in a town before inefficiency sets in. Once this limit of Food production is reached, additional citizens assigned to Farmer duty will produce much less - making them less efficient. Higher Maximum Population means a higher production efficiency threshold, thus allowing more Farmers to be assigned while still retaining full efficiency. These factors clearly illustrate how beneficial River Mouth tiles are to nearby settlements. Any town built next to (or on top of) a River Mouth will have terrific growth rates, and may end up being extremely large when it is done growing. Such towns can produce a massive quantity of for their empire, and the sheer amount of citizens can also translate into high and/or income! Gold Output Bonus If a Town is placed directly on top of a River Mouth tile, it will enjoy that tile's bonus of output. This is essentially a combination of the bonuses from a River and an adjacent Shore tile, which give and respectively. This bonus is based on the amount of produced by the town's citizens through Taxation, plus any income from nearby Minerals such as Silver Ore, Gold Ore or Gems. If a Miners' Guild is present in the town, its effect on the value of such Minerals is calculated before the bonus from the River Mouth, thus increasing the River Mouth's total benefit even further. For example, imagine a town that produces in taxes plus from nearby Minerals - for a total of . If this town is also directly on top of a River Mouth tile, the River Mouth will yield another (80 * 30% = 24). Again, this only applies if the town is built directly on top of the River Mouth. If it is only adjacent to one, it does not gain this bonus. Financial centers are thus best built on top of River Mouths. In fact, any town that has an option to be built either next to or on top of a River Mouth should probably be placed on the River Mouth, assuming it does not give up other good tiles (especially Minerals) in order to do so. However, if the nearby Shore is that of an open Ocean, it may also be worth considering the negative impact of those tiles before founding the city (Ocean tiles contribute nothing to either or Maximum Population). Ship-Building River Mouth tiles always appear adjacent to the Shore of an ocean or inland lake. As a result, any town built on top of a River Mouth tile (but not necessarily one adjacent to such a tile) has access to the naval development branch by default. All Races except the Lizardmen can benefit from this: the town will be able to construct, at the very least, a Shipwrights' Guild, which can then produce Triremes. These are basic ocean-going vessels that can ferry units across large bodies of water quite rapidly. They may also be used in combat to some extent. Many races can advance beyond the Shipwrights' Guild towards better structures like the Ship Yard and/or Maritime Guild. Towns containing these structures can build stronger and faster naval vessels, some of which are truly powerful. However, this development branch also has a further Terrain requirement: it can only be pursued in Towns that have at least one Forest in their catchment area. This is necessary to build the Sawmill, one of the prerequisites for building a Ship Yard. Finally, a scant few races can eventually reach the Merchants' Guild - an extremely powerful (and expensive) building that doubles income in the town. As a result, such races will endeavour to build many towns along the shoreline of any body of water. As noted above however, this also requires a nearby Forest tile: Merchants' Guilds may not be built in Towns without a Ship Yard (and thus a Sawmill). It is not necessary for a town to be built on top of a River Mouth tile in order to unlock these structures - being adjacent to a Shore tile is enough. However, the bonuses from the River Mouth are so valuable that such a town could become a powerful naval construction center or a wealthy financial center, much moreso than a town placed on a less "interesting" shore area. Common Minerals River Mouth tiles will never contain any Terrain Specials, whether Minerals, Nodes or Encounter zones. The game explicitly prohibits this. Of course, the benefits from the River Mouth itself are often high enough to make it as valuable as a Mineral, especially if towns are built right on top of the River Mouth itself (see above). Movement River Mouth tiles are just as difficult to cross on foot as the Rivers themselves. units lose 2 Movement Points when entering a River Mouth tile. units treat River Mouth tiles like any other tile. They take only 1 Movement Point to enter it. Similarly, stacks that use movement (e.g. Non-Corporeal units) can enter this tile for their usual cost of 0.5 Movement Points. Despite being a water tile, units that do not have an alternative ability cannot enter River Mouth tiles at all. units, however, only pay 1 Movement Point to cross them. Roads and Road Construction As with any land tile, River Mouth tiles can be upgraded with a Road. This is done using Engineers, a unit type only available to certain Races. Constructing a Road through a River Mouth tile is somewhat difficult, probably requiring the Engineers to construct a bridge across it. A single unit of Engineers will take 5 turns to create a Road on a River Mouth tile. Each additional unit of Engineers reduces this by about 50% (rounded down). Therefore, 2 units will take 2 turns, and 3 or more units will take only a single turn to build this road. Additional Engineers (beyond 3) do not speed this up any further. Dwarf Engineers work twice as fast as other Engineers. This means that a single such unit can complete a Road in a River Mouth tile in only 2 turns, and it only takes 2 of them to build it in just one turn. Once a road has been constructed, the cost to enter this River Mouth tile changes to 0.5 for all units, regardless of their movement type. Note however that units still cannot enter this tile, since they cannot move on land. If the road was constructed on Myrror, or affected by the spell, movement costs to enter this tile are completely removed for most units. In other words, , , and units can enter this tile without spending any movement points at all. However, Non-Corporeal units cannot use this special road, and will still require 0.5 Movement Points to enter the tile. Change Terrain River Mouth tiles are considered invalid targets for the spell. Any attempt to cast the spell at a River Mouth tile will result in an error message saying that this tile may not be targeted. In fact, no spell can change a River Mouth into any other kind of Terrain! Gaia's Blessing Similarly, the spell cannot affect River Mouths either. Category:Terrain Types